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Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 175, NO. 54 | Monday April 9, 2012
“Race-based affirmative
action ... undermines true
hard work.” PAGE 4
Late delivery: USC baseball
completes two walk-off victories
against California. PAGE 16
weather
today
hi 73
lo 54
tomorrow
hi 70
lo 52
Students
By Nathaniel HSieh
Daily Trojan
Alex Banayan, a sophomore ma-joring
in business administration,
was hired after winter break as
an associate with San Francisco-based
venture capital firm Alsop
Louie Partners to look for promis-ing
start-ups within the USC com-munity.
The hire makes Banayan,
19, one of the youngest venture
capitalists in history.
Banayan will hold a part-time
position with Alsop Louie and will
continue as a full-time student at
USC. Banayan will participate in
a weekly conference call with the
Alsop Louie Partners and will fly
to San Francisco once a month.
“USC students now have an
opportunity few other students
have,” Banayan said. “It’s huge to
have a venture capitalist on cam-pus
who will be so accessible so
now students with ideas for start-ups
can just shoot me an email
and don’t have to try to pitch their
ideas independently to venture
capitalists in Silicon Valley.”
Venture capital firms invest in
and financially launch start-up
companies in return for a percent-age
of the business’s income.
“It’s like the movie The Social
Network, where venture capitalist
Peter Thiel gives start-up money
to Mark Zuckerberg in return for a
percentage of Facebook,” Banayan
said.
Ashish Soni, executive direc-tor
of digital innovation at the
Viterbi School of Engineering,
said Banayan’s position is a great
addition to the opportunities that
the university currently offers to
its student entrepreneurs.
“Alex is slightly more accessi-ble
and less intimidating and will
help USC students present their
ideas to as many potential inves-tors
as possible,” Soni said. “Not
to mention that Alex is a dynamic,
charismatic and very polished in-dividual
who is a great representa-tive
for USC.”
Grace Huang, a freshman ma-joring
in health and humanity,
said the fact that Banayan is a stu-dent
makes the thought of pitch-ing
an idea to a venture capitalist
much less intimidating.
“It’s better for the student body
because there’s a smaller age gap,
and he understands what it’s like
to be a student,” Huang said.
As Banayan admits, he does not
fit the stereotype of a typical ven-ture
capitalist.
“The old rules of having to
be a 60-year-old white male are
gone,” Banayan said. “I’m 19
years old, the son of Persian im-migrants
and haven’t even taken
the finance class at Marshall, yet
Banayan gets quick start
in venture capital world
Sophomore Alex Banayan, 19,
works with firm Alsop Louie to
scout start-ups at USC.
| see Banayan, page 2 |
By Austin Byron
Daily Trojan
The California Psychological
Association recently declared
USC a psychologically safe work
environment after the CPA deter-mined
USC met certain standards
in employee involvement, safety
and growth.
The university’s Center for
Work and Family Life helped coor-dinate
the application process for
the CPA’s Psychologically Healthy
Workplace Award, which the uni-versity
carried out two other
times, most recently in 2008.
USC will formally be awarded
the honor during the CPA’s annu-al
meeting in Monterey, Calif., on
April 21.
According to Linda Snouffer,
the assistant director of the Center
for Work and Family Life, the goal
of the center is to provide support
to all USC faculty and staff in or-der
to help them through a wide
variety of work-related and per-sonal
difficulties.
“The Center for Work and
Family Life is the university’s
employee assistance program,”
Snouffer said. “We offer support-ive
services for the USC faculty
and staff community and their
families that can last from pre-employment
through retirement.”
Additionally, Snouffer said the
services the Center for Work and
Family Life provides are vast and
include an array of different ser-vices
that aim to help employees
maintain their mental health.
“Our core services include con-fidential
brief, solution focused
counseling for a wide range of
CPA awards USC for employee happiness
The university receives its
second Psychologically Healthy
Workplace Award since 2008.
| see Award, page 3 |
Recognition
Daily Trojan file photo
Goal · The Center for Work and Family Life’s work with faculty and
staff members helped USC meet standards in employee happiness.
Luciano Nunez | Daily Trojan
Get live
Macklemore hypes up the crowd during his set on McCarthy Quad as part of Program Board’s Springfest
2012. The event also included performances from headliner house music DJ Wolfgang
Gartner, Anberlin and Young London. Find more coverage of this year’s Springfest on page 7.
Davis
By Daniel Rothberg
Daily Trojan
Pinchas Cohen, a leading re-searcher
and a former vice chair
at the UCLA School of Medicine,
was named dean of the Davis
School of Gerontology on Friday
by Provost and Senior Vice
President Elizabeth Garrett on
behalf of USC President C. L. Max
Nikias. The appointment is effec-tive
Aug. 1.
In addition to working as the
school’s dean, Cohen will serve
as the executive director of the
Ethel Percey Andrus Gerontology
Center, the school’s research
arm. He was also named holder
of the William and Sylvia Kugel
Dean’s Chair in Gerontology.
Davis focuses on the study of
different aspects of aging, rang-ing
from its social effects to its
biological effects.
Cohen’s research centers on
mitochondrial biology and the
significance of its role in aging.
He is co-founder of CohBar, a bio-technology
company working on
using mitochondrial peptides in
diabetes treatments.
Cohen’s work has been ac-knowledged
by several organiza-tions,
receiving awards from the
National Institute on Aging and
the National Institutes of Health.
At UCLA, Cohen supervised
teaching, training and research
and worked in programs con-cerning
age-related diseases,
such as cancer and Alzheimer’s.
Before his tenure at UCLA, Cohen
worked as chief and professor of
endocrinology at UCLA’s Mattel
Children’s Hospital. He has also
served as associate director of
the UCSD-UCLA Diabetes and
Endocrinology Research Center.
Cohen serves on the boards
of many professional organiza-tions,
including the American
Federation for Aging Research
and the Growth Hormone
Research Society.
While working as a profes-sor
of pediatrics at the David
Gerontology school
names new dean
Pinchas Cohen, a prominent
gerontology researcher, will be
instated as dean on Aug. 1.
| see Dean, page 3 |

Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 175, NO. 54 | Monday April 9, 2012
“Race-based affirmative
action ... undermines true
hard work.” PAGE 4
Late delivery: USC baseball
completes two walk-off victories
against California. PAGE 16
weather
today
hi 73
lo 54
tomorrow
hi 70
lo 52
Students
By Nathaniel HSieh
Daily Trojan
Alex Banayan, a sophomore ma-joring
in business administration,
was hired after winter break as
an associate with San Francisco-based
venture capital firm Alsop
Louie Partners to look for promis-ing
start-ups within the USC com-munity.
The hire makes Banayan,
19, one of the youngest venture
capitalists in history.
Banayan will hold a part-time
position with Alsop Louie and will
continue as a full-time student at
USC. Banayan will participate in
a weekly conference call with the
Alsop Louie Partners and will fly
to San Francisco once a month.
“USC students now have an
opportunity few other students
have,” Banayan said. “It’s huge to
have a venture capitalist on cam-pus
who will be so accessible so
now students with ideas for start-ups
can just shoot me an email
and don’t have to try to pitch their
ideas independently to venture
capitalists in Silicon Valley.”
Venture capital firms invest in
and financially launch start-up
companies in return for a percent-age
of the business’s income.
“It’s like the movie The Social
Network, where venture capitalist
Peter Thiel gives start-up money
to Mark Zuckerberg in return for a
percentage of Facebook,” Banayan
said.
Ashish Soni, executive direc-tor
of digital innovation at the
Viterbi School of Engineering,
said Banayan’s position is a great
addition to the opportunities that
the university currently offers to
its student entrepreneurs.
“Alex is slightly more accessi-ble
and less intimidating and will
help USC students present their
ideas to as many potential inves-tors
as possible,” Soni said. “Not
to mention that Alex is a dynamic,
charismatic and very polished in-dividual
who is a great representa-tive
for USC.”
Grace Huang, a freshman ma-joring
in health and humanity,
said the fact that Banayan is a stu-dent
makes the thought of pitch-ing
an idea to a venture capitalist
much less intimidating.
“It’s better for the student body
because there’s a smaller age gap,
and he understands what it’s like
to be a student,” Huang said.
As Banayan admits, he does not
fit the stereotype of a typical ven-ture
capitalist.
“The old rules of having to
be a 60-year-old white male are
gone,” Banayan said. “I’m 19
years old, the son of Persian im-migrants
and haven’t even taken
the finance class at Marshall, yet
Banayan gets quick start
in venture capital world
Sophomore Alex Banayan, 19,
works with firm Alsop Louie to
scout start-ups at USC.
| see Banayan, page 2 |
By Austin Byron
Daily Trojan
The California Psychological
Association recently declared
USC a psychologically safe work
environment after the CPA deter-mined
USC met certain standards
in employee involvement, safety
and growth.
The university’s Center for
Work and Family Life helped coor-dinate
the application process for
the CPA’s Psychologically Healthy
Workplace Award, which the uni-versity
carried out two other
times, most recently in 2008.
USC will formally be awarded
the honor during the CPA’s annu-al
meeting in Monterey, Calif., on
April 21.
According to Linda Snouffer,
the assistant director of the Center
for Work and Family Life, the goal
of the center is to provide support
to all USC faculty and staff in or-der
to help them through a wide
variety of work-related and per-sonal
difficulties.
“The Center for Work and
Family Life is the university’s
employee assistance program,”
Snouffer said. “We offer support-ive
services for the USC faculty
and staff community and their
families that can last from pre-employment
through retirement.”
Additionally, Snouffer said the
services the Center for Work and
Family Life provides are vast and
include an array of different ser-vices
that aim to help employees
maintain their mental health.
“Our core services include con-fidential
brief, solution focused
counseling for a wide range of
CPA awards USC for employee happiness
The university receives its
second Psychologically Healthy
Workplace Award since 2008.
| see Award, page 3 |
Recognition
Daily Trojan file photo
Goal · The Center for Work and Family Life’s work with faculty and
staff members helped USC meet standards in employee happiness.
Luciano Nunez | Daily Trojan
Get live
Macklemore hypes up the crowd during his set on McCarthy Quad as part of Program Board’s Springfest
2012. The event also included performances from headliner house music DJ Wolfgang
Gartner, Anberlin and Young London. Find more coverage of this year’s Springfest on page 7.
Davis
By Daniel Rothberg
Daily Trojan
Pinchas Cohen, a leading re-searcher
and a former vice chair
at the UCLA School of Medicine,
was named dean of the Davis
School of Gerontology on Friday
by Provost and Senior Vice
President Elizabeth Garrett on
behalf of USC President C. L. Max
Nikias. The appointment is effec-tive
Aug. 1.
In addition to working as the
school’s dean, Cohen will serve
as the executive director of the
Ethel Percey Andrus Gerontology
Center, the school’s research
arm. He was also named holder
of the William and Sylvia Kugel
Dean’s Chair in Gerontology.
Davis focuses on the study of
different aspects of aging, rang-ing
from its social effects to its
biological effects.
Cohen’s research centers on
mitochondrial biology and the
significance of its role in aging.
He is co-founder of CohBar, a bio-technology
company working on
using mitochondrial peptides in
diabetes treatments.
Cohen’s work has been ac-knowledged
by several organiza-tions,
receiving awards from the
National Institute on Aging and
the National Institutes of Health.
At UCLA, Cohen supervised
teaching, training and research
and worked in programs con-cerning
age-related diseases,
such as cancer and Alzheimer’s.
Before his tenure at UCLA, Cohen
worked as chief and professor of
endocrinology at UCLA’s Mattel
Children’s Hospital. He has also
served as associate director of
the UCSD-UCLA Diabetes and
Endocrinology Research Center.
Cohen serves on the boards
of many professional organiza-tions,
including the American
Federation for Aging Research
and the Growth Hormone
Research Society.
While working as a profes-sor
of pediatrics at the David
Gerontology school
names new dean
Pinchas Cohen, a prominent
gerontology researcher, will be
instated as dean on Aug. 1.
| see Dean, page 3 |